The Whites player is on the Elland Road club’s books but is currently on loan with the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light.
Leeds United loanee Laurens De Bock has been doing fairly well on loan at Sunderland but this weekend he delivered a display for the Black Cats which yielded some criticism.
The Whites defender, on the Elland Road books since January 2018, made Jack Ross’ starting XI in Saturday’s League One game against Lincoln, which ended up in a lacklustre 2-0 defeat for the Stadium of Light website.
Sunderland’s opponents took the lead in the 18th minute as Neal Eardley’s hopeful delivery into the box was misjudged by goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin and Tyler Walker raced in and got his toe to the ball just after the first bounce to open the scoring.
Admittedly, De Bock did weigh in with the Black Cats’ sole chance of the first half, brilliantly saved by Lincoln goalkeeper Josh Vickers, but the Belgian then conceded a penalty when he hauled Bruno Andrade down in the box, though Walker’s spot-kick struck the inside of the post.
Sunderland’s reprieve did not last long as Lincoln continued to pile forward and managed to double their lead just before the hour mark when Walker turned home Andrade’s cross from the right.
The Sunderland Echo gave De Bock a 5 out of 10 and said he “defended resolutely enough in the first half but struggled to cope in the second. Bruno Andrade had the beating of him and though Sunderland got away with it when he gave away a penalty, a cross from that side soon produced the second goal.”
The Roker Report used slightly stronger words to describe the 26-year-old’s display – though he was by no means the only player to be panned on the day – as they said he was “a total embarrassment defensively, lacking any awareness, physical strength or footballing intelligence”.
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